Revival Home Health Care

Jack Bron

In today’s healthcare and medical world, both the federal and state governments have created an environment whereby hospitals are responsible for their outcomes. It is a setting where patients if they are in a hospital for too long after a certain point, payment stops at a certain point. Similarly, if a patient gets readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of being discharged, it is scrutinized, looked into, and based on that the hospital, it is then rated plus penalized. So hospitals look for post-acute care partners they can trust and have confidence and trust in. These are partners that will be an ally to them in helping them with safe and sustainable discharges. Revival Home Health, found in 1994 as a licensed for special needs CHHA to serve the Russian Hasidic & Holocaust survivor population, is a Centers Health Care company. Revival is one of those uniquely targeted certified home health agencies (CHHA).Over the years, Revival Home Health has stepped up to the plate, thus proving themselves continuously to be a worthy partner by accepting difficult discharges. 

After many internal discussions dating back to 2009 about how Revival can bring their unique approach to a major hospital in New York City, the company decided to request a meeting with leadership at the New York City hospital Healthcare System on the eastside of Manhattan. Revival Home Health felt that the business model and positioning of the New York City hospital Healthcare System were right in line with Revival’s healthcare and business make-up. Both companies saw the same thing, and thus in 2010, Revival Home Health Care signed an agreement with the New York City Hospital. The agreement spelled out that for all joint replacement patients where physical therapy (PT) is such a critical part of the recovery, Revival places PT to start the day after discharge from the hospital. The company plots the number of visits prior to the patient starting services. Across the board at the New York City hospital, when patients’ insurance does not require prior approval for an HHA (Home Health Aid), Revival will place the HHA to begin immediately after discharge, as opposed to waiting for the nurse who will come to the home which can hold up the process for two to three days. The New York City hospital patients go home knowing when the aide will come and exactly how many hours will be off work will be placed for the first week. Strategizing their treatment with the hospital and keeping Revival’s the New York City hospital readmission rate at about a twelve percent average is key because this being four percent lower than the national average.

In 2012, I was brought in to increase the amount of business Revival Home Health does with the New York City hospital Healthcare System, just at the time New York State had been preparing to lift the restrictive licenses, making Revival Home Health a multi-purpose CHHA. This would allow Revival to service unlimited amounts of patients from all communities, as opposed to having 70 percent of patients from the Russian Hasidic and Holocaust survivor population. Additionally, Revival Home Health and The New York City hospital Healthcare System spoke more on many different levels. These include covering the weekends to help facilitate discharges and some value-based programs.. In 2013 post-Sandy, Revival got involved with various initiatives with the New York City hospital, such as Telehealth Monitoring, as well as the bundle payments for the care Improvement program. This was a value-based initiative for total joint replacements, along with spinal surgery and cardiovascular surgery patients. Revival had great outcomes, a formula in the post-acute care world that is measured by having a short period of time and meager readmission rates. At that point, the Revival Home Health – the New York City hospital Healthcare System partnership had blossomed. When Revival joined the Centers Health Care continuum, the New York City hospital was introduced to Centers Health Care’s nursing homes downstate New York City region and they to became a partner with the New York City hospital Healthcare System.

"During this COVID-19 pandemic, whenever nurses found it difficult to come to work, the New York City Hospital always knew Revival Home Health would come through"

Patients and Families benefit most when the Hospital and CHHA have loyalty to each other. There are industry norms as far as the amount of services provided to patients and the frequency. To give an example, when a patient gets a registered nurse (RN), a physical therapist, and a home health aide, it is industry standard that the day after hospital discharge, an RN comes into the home to assess the patients’ needs. If the patient requires an HHA, the nurse places it, and the aide services begin a few days later. Day two, after discharge, a PT will come to the home to assess the patient and then place as many PT visits as needed. Prior to the Revival Home Health - the New York City hospital Healthcare System relationship, the New York City hospital was only working with one other CHHA. If a CHHA dropped the ball or could not staff a case for whatever reason, it was discovered that the New York City hospital had to reach out to off-site providers. The Revival Home Health model became a one-stop-shop for anything home health-related, which eliminated anything falling through the cracks and the same time, fulfilling the needs of the New York City hospital’s patients.

By having Revival Home Health as a partner, it creates a vibe that both companies (hospital and CHHA) need to do their share and do it correctly. With this notion, the hospital has two concrete go-to options, that minimize the need for the New York City hospital to reach out to off-site providers. This ultimately benefits the patients and makes the care much more efficiently coordinated. An example of this is the the New York City hospital Wound Care Clinic, whereby Revival nurses treat many of these patients, many being geriatric. They have very efficient methods of communicating, and when Revival’s nurses treat these highly complex wounds, they actually become an extended arm to their doctors from the hospital.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, whenever nurses found it difficult to come to work, the New York City hospital always knew Revival Home Health would come through. During the reopening phase when elective surgeries start to be scheduled again and even when many people are still not back to normal, the New York City hospital Healthcare System knows they can always count on Revival given that we can coordinate with the hospital for their needs and based on the fact that Revival is preparing themselves. This only proves that Revival Home Health is truly an extended arm of the New York City hospital Healthcare System, a world-class healthcare system, and Revival is very proud of that.

[Jack Bron is Revival Home Health’s Account Manager of the New York City hospital Healthcare System relationship. Keeping the New York City hospital’s patients in mind, Mr. Bron manages the day-to-day operations with the New York City hospital Healthcare System.]